It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.

The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.

I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.

Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds. As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility.

And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.

Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.

Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.

To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers. Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law.

They can't even make the assurances sound sincere anymore. Confidence is leaking away. Unrest in the streets, long time hedgies going away, closing up shop, knowing it's better to be out early than get caught late.

It's coming soon. Can you hear the distant drums? The echo becomes louder on days like today.

Loose translation (for those with little time due to current events or other reasons):

NEVER GO FULL RETARD UNLESS YOU ARE AMONG THE CHOSEN SEVERAL HUNDRED OR SO IN THE KLEPTOCTRATIC INNER SANCTUM, IN WHICH CASE, DO AS YOUR URGES/IMPULSES SAY & AT YOUR LEISURE, WITH NO RISK OF LOSSES, BITCHEZ.

This is ridiculous. Tyler Durden, this is NOT the 1st of April and the collapse of some hoax backyard business is all you can come up with regarding MFG fallout? *TsTsTS* I am going to call your Mama tonight!

Actually, there was a collapse last week: a bag of rice tumbled over in Bangkok harbor and by JUST ONE HAIR almost KILLED a mouse.

No, you are quite mistaken. This is symptomatic. One by one, people are waking up, and discovering the nightmare...is real. Too bad Limbaugh mentioned this pretty lady tho. She's now up near the top of the ZOG liquidation list.

"So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy."

well, there it is......

Ann on "Ann"

" I am an old-school commercial hedge broker specializing in CATTLE and GRAIN. Farmers, ranchers, etc. Actual hedging of actual cattle and grain using futures and options. Very old-school original"

“It is said that men go mad in herds, and only come to their senses slowly, and one by one.” -Charles Mackay

One by one the professional money managers are coming to terms with reality, and have come to realize that even they are just as vulnerable as the rest of us to a godless savage apex predator like Corzine. They are finally realizing what Ayn Rand meant when she said, "You can ignore reality. But you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."

When people find out that MF Global customers were taken to the cleaners, even if their accounts were 'safe', then they see that no one is going to jail, then they see that their lost funds may not come back (or with a severe haircut), when do the people start to connect the dots?

I personally think the clawback sent her over the edge. That same lawyer did the same to the people who withdrew monies from Sentinal prior to that blowup. You can't even be smart enough anymore to run from a fire, you have to go back and get in line.

So having what would be considered a rational opinion of Islam 100 years ago (before PC BS took hold) now disqualifies someone from commenting about the business they've been in, day to day for years? You're an intolerant jerk. It doesn't take an insane person so see through Mohammed's power-madness.

its easy to be wrong about who is behind all of this... Muslims have been the fall guy for awhile (now who WHO could be behind that?). She might not have the big picture down, but seem like she got the part about MF Global and corruption pretty well...

Yes, a religious whackjob. On the other hand, if you aren't at least a little nervous about the idea of sharia and the ability of the other religious whackjobs known as mulsims to try to start importing it here (it is after all the stated goal of several muslim groups), then you are not paying attention. Like many trades I seem to do, she is simply early.

I certainly can't compare your intellect to hers, but your ignorance of Islam is just as bad. Sharia is not coming to the United States. I know this is going to be hard to wrap your head around since Fox News has told you otherwise, but "Sharia Law" in the U.S. boils down to parties, i.e., marriage, business, etc., voluntarily entering in to ARBITRATION/MEDIATION agreements. These arb/med agreements, like all others in the US, outline the how disputes are to be resolved. Where "sharia" is involved, both parties agree beforehand to resolve their - mostly family - disputes according to Islamic presciptions. STOP USING FOX NEWS AS YOUR (ONLY) SOURCE OF INFORMATION.

As far as her fear of clawbacks, that may be well founded. I'm not sure it warrants closing up shop, but hey, one less nutcase.

If you are speaking of Catholicism, you would be correct; which had a large hand in the creation and promotion of Islam. If you are speaking of Christ, you would be quite wrong:

33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? 35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

If you are lost in the simplistic notion that the only reason Bernard Lewis, probably the foremost historian on Islam, is merely a sycophantic shill for the neocons, then you are surely delusional. First of all, Lewis is not entirely unsympathetic to Islam, and second, the record of Islamic expansion, and attempts at expansion, into Europe over many centuries is abundantly clear to anyone who knows anything about history at all. It took the Spaniards nearly 800 years to rid themselves of their Islamic oppressors (despite Obama's extolling the virtues of Cordoba's golden age -paid for by the taxes on Christians -the jizya). In short, just ask why it is that Christian churches cannot be built in Islamic lands, yet mosques sprout like mushrooms in nations formed by Christians.

I do not watch Fox or MSNBC. Bloomberg during the day maybe. I read a couple Ag newsletters, Zero Hedge, Wall Street Journal maybe, a few otherr things. Simple fact of life is that Islam is not consistent by its own tenets with the separation of church and state, which is, you know, the basis of American civilization. Do you work for CAIR?

The man who is intolerant of the views and values that other men hold sacred, who wants to “root up all the religion and civilization that made him and wash out all the common sense of ownership and honesty, would let his culture and his country be flattened out by savages from the ends of the earth.” – G.K. Chesterton

Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto and a hate-filled atheist, wrote in his poem Prayer:

The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain, Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me. -For me beats the time and gives the signs.Ever more boldly I play the dance of death.[p.12]

In his poem The Pale Maiden, he writes:

Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well.My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell.[p.20

"It is not that Christianity has been found wanting and discarded, but it has been found difficult and left untried." Mark Twain

In reality there hasn't been a religious war for 300 years, and levers of power will always have people who want to pull them for their own power and glory. If you get down to it, eco-freaks are more dangerous at this point than Christians. 10:10 says it all

Thanks for the YouTube link. This lady is just another right-wing, hypocritical, schizophrenic freak from outer space. And she probably manages a very small amount of money for other hypocritical, schizophrenic freaks from outer space.

Toward the end of her video, she says that all Muslims should be arrested and deported. LOL. And she says any politician who supports the freedom to practice Islam should be tried for treason. I thought the First Amendment protected freedom of religion. WTF?? She's probably one of those hypocritical TEA BAGGERS who thinks our Constitution and our government exists only for their particular objectives and ideologies.

It's really amazing how the Republican party has been co-opted by super freaks over the past several years.

Thank you for posting this. I don't know why people are down voting you but the people usually need a boogey man, these days it is muslims. It is scary what this country has become and how many people don't even question what they believe. Thank you for questioning things in this sad circle jerk.

She's right. There is no rule of law in Wall St. The people who will react first to that growing realisation are likely to be people with some form of strict moral code (whatever it might be). The people who react last will lose the most.

You are right she is definitely insane. but that does not necessarily make her post or opinion or comments wrong. My mother is insane but she does have her brief moments of lucidity.

The scary bit of the clip is that bernhart is an analogue of the huge number of you americans who believe this fairy tale god crap. you are more scary that the vile cunts who believe islam.

and she has clearly not read the koran. (i have) -it has little or no content outside of continous repetion of imprecations (GOD IS GREAT) . i summarized the koran on an A5 sheet. the hadith is where the abuse and lies come from. (it has much in common with christian 'interpretation' of the scripture) - it is the old testament that is the endless ramblings (to use her words) of a sick abusive psychos.

it doesnt make any sense ( except to an IQ60 illiterate goat herder in the desert) and yet millions allow it to control their lives?

Fuckwits. Chrsitians are at least half the problem. With your education system there should be no reason to believe such horse shit.

We won't change the course of this ship until a lot more people wake up and get emotional, the banksters would like to keep people nice and obedient and "professional". I'm glad people like Churchill, Washington, Lincoln got emotional and lost their professionalism over issues they cared about..........

Time to borrow from good literature describing barbarians at the gate:

"We have barred the gates, but can not hold them for long. We can not get out. They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. Frar and Loni and Nali fell there. The pool is up to the wall at the Westgate. The Watcher in the water took Oin. We can not get out. The end comes. Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming."

I just don't buy her holy morals. She's been in the business, managing money for quite some time... Now the wheels are falling off the cart and there's no safe way to play the game any longer. Is she seriously only just now realizing the whole thing is a corrupt sham?

Remove the political rant and it's a very powerful statement, nonetheless. I personally detect some bitterness at the realization the gravy-train has derailed, though.

She may be the first independent broker who has brought her work to a near halt with no plans to restart until this administration is gone and Congress has been cleaned out and cleaned up. However, an independent oil and gas man I know did the same thing several weeks ago and for the same reasons. He's not even prospecting. He didn't have to get hit by MFGlobal. He could see this coming.

Although I agree with him totally, I'm feeling the squeeze since I was doing some of his title work for him.

@Trav-I really agree with you on this one. Obama is just one person and is not responsible for this mess. He is a complete tool, but this is the work of many more people, much higher up on the food chain then him. Calling out Obama only plays into the hand of the two-party system.

Do not mention these fucking scumbags in politics, by name or party, when addressing our problems. Call out Monsanto, JPM, Proctor and Gamble, etc. People don't need to waste their time blaming Bush or Obama. They are puppets. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions and laughed delightedly at his licentiousness and thought it very superior of him to acquire vast amounts of gold illicitly. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.' Julius was always an ambitious villain, but he is only one man." - Cicero

DO blame Caesar and Obama and George W and Blankfein and Dimon and Clinton and Larry Summers and Bernanke and LBJ and ALL OF THE US MAFIA SCUM BAGS THROUGH OUT ALL TIME - and let's get RID OF THEM - NOW, THIS WINTER - EVERY ONE WHO SERVES THE ELITE AND THEIR UNHOLY SATANIC EMPIRE.

What more reason do you need than to blame someone else to justify sitting on your hands? Its far more effective when you feel some personal responsibility, presuming you have a spine. I blame you, and I, too.

If Bamster and his regulatory EXECUTIVE branches did not do this who did?? Because this is really going to help business, how about delaying the Keystone pipleline, joos in london behind that too I suppose?

From your article: The Obama administration’s new proposal to double the fuel efficiency of cars by 2025 may...add $2,000 to the price of passenger automobiles, according to two federal agencies.

If you want to factor inflation 15 years down the road with the Fed balance sheet beyond comprehension, $2,000 then will be like $7 now. I'm not really worried.

I didn't say anything about the Jews, that was you. You don't seem to comprehend that the Federal Reserve controls monetary policy, not Obama. You are the reason our country is as fucked up as it is. You only look at the R or D behind someone's name and assume they are either with you or against you.

Here is some truth I'm going to hit you with: You are a pawn for crony capitalism, continuing to push the political paradigm just like the Fox and MSNBC pundits. I don't know what the point of your comment was, but you should probably start off on a rookie blog before you come on here and try to push an agenda 98.4% of us don't agree with.

Correction. 0.00001%. How many citizens actually talk about owning gold, let alone HAVE physical in hand? if 1% of the world's population bought 1 ounce of gold, the Comex and LBMA would shriek in fear of delivery.

Factor inflation $2000 to $7, 15 years down the road and this has what to do with business killing regulatory over reach? By the way who really cares if your worried?

I fully understand the Fed and Obama, my point which you so easily missed was that the administration within its executive run bureacracy is over reaching its regulatory powers and thus harming industry and the economy overall.

Really is that what I think? Hmm, it may go a bit deeper than that but I do think that the "all politicians are bad" mantra is for simpletons with bad hair like you. If that were the case I guess Ron Paul is just another schill reaching ro the golden ring, right, because all R's are bad and simpletons like me just cannot comprehend your oh so nuanced ways, ha.. The jew comment was not directed at you and frankly should not have been there my bad, I was trying to combine comments..

You Sir or madam are a pawn for shallow thinking and who gives a fuck what 99.9% of you agree with. Is it fight club or lets all agree with the ugly bitch with the 5:00 shadow blog..

"Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies"

Give me a fucking break. Who is responsible for the utter lack of morals on Wall Street? Why Obama of course!

Regulation and law enforcement is a total joke, and that is on Obama since he took office in early 2009. But Wall Street is immoral and has been for decades. And regulation has been a joke for decades.

Tea Baggers are so blinded by hatred for one man they're missing the opportunity to be out on the streets with OWS, who are showing more courage in a couple of months than the political right has in three years.

Go read her blog. She goes into much more detail about her positions, vis-a-vis good vs. evil and what not. It's not just obammy, but the entire fed govt she's "revolting" against. I think her message is going to resound with many.

Tea Baggers are so blinded by hatred for one man they're missing the opportunity to be out on the streets with OWS, who are showing more courage in a couple of months than the political right has in three years.

The "tea baggers" were originally out protesting on Wall Street in 2008. However, this all goes back to corporate interests and the fact the Tea Party has turned into a group that is more concerned with gay marriage than they are with understanding fractional reserve banking.

True revolutions start from pain. We will all know when we are in pain and we are not quite there yet. Everything beforehand is just window dressing. Ignore OWS and the Tea Party. Peaceful protests only work when they are part of the NWO's plan.

IMO, OWS would have more of an impact if you/they would get organized, set a schedule, have people take shifts for a 24/7 presence. Stay on your feet most of the time. Show up clean and neat and in casual but "respectable" cloths. Pay more attention to details such as posture and diction and vocabulary. Crystalize the message and sell it.

When and where did the Tea party turn its entire agenda over to gay marriage, links please.. If that is the case of course OWS all about hetero rape, prior to the ladies tent being erected of course...

Oh yeah, the teabaggers in between banning astrolube and gay marriage, managed to put together a draft budget for CONgress.. Looks pretty good but I still cannot find the Anita Bryant memorial funding. We are hoping to plant an orange grove representing hetero sex penis and vagina stuff only cuz the other stuff is icky..

I wish people would quit calling Obama a Marxist. He's a FASCIST. Just like bush/Clinton/bush regimes. Italy France England Germany Russia china and most of the rest. Calling crony fascism Marxist just triggers old boomer prejudices and divides folks. He is a fascist and that is scary. No need to muddy the waters and fall into the left/right paradigm and make it sound like the fascist republicans are any better than the fascist democrats.

Many people are just waking up and realizing that the world is hostile. Many grab first for enemies they think they already know. Waking up is a really traumatic experience for many. I think the film the Matrix presents a very clear allegorical illustration of where we are now: the whole fucking power structure isn't what most people thought it was and it's 100% ready to destroy anything that threatens it.

Many people are just waking up and realizing that the world is hostile. Many grab first for enemies they think they already know. Waking up is a really traumatic experience for many. I think the film the Matrix presents a very clear allegorical illustration of where we are now: the whole fucking power structure isn't what most people thought it was and it's 100% ready to destroy anything that threatens it.

Amen to that. The chilling part is when you realize, as you say, it's not what you thought and it's fucking lethal.

Here is a brief history of America:

>>>>>>>>>>

Originally, 20 year charters for corporations (had to be renewed)

1782 Bank of North America - Founder imprisoned for fraud and other abusesCharter expired in 1802

1791 1st Bank of the US1811 Charter expired; renewal defeated by a single vote

You only got one vote. It seems like anytime Italic's are used the voting, is somehow blocked. I have seen many instances of it here. I know that because I was going green--nada. Don't use italic,s in your first line unless it is a quote and is given the """" around the quote. Milestones

The fact that this lady was trading in the futures market with, by her admission, high degrees of leverage up until this morning proves that she's just another loser hypocrite who got blown out of the game and is looking to blame anyone other than herself. For her to begin her article with "unflinching moral certainty" and punctuate it with a Bible quote only proves that she's just another hypocritical, right-wing nutjob who hides behind the thin veil of Christian ethics and morality while, hypocritically, deciding to play the devil's game and then running away calling it unfair.

Just looked at this woman's blog. Her Evangelical Christian blog posts I think are just good ways to keep in touch with her investors who are probably also born again. Good marketing, good investor relations. Whether she really feels compelled to write the "Our Father" on her blog posts every other day, I dont' know.

I'm cynical at best, paranoid at worst.

But those Evangelical Christians love to wear their religion on their lapels. And in her part of the country, I'm sure she's smart enough to play along - "Fish-on-the-trunk-of-her-car" and all.

I realized that this game was rigged when Silver fell by 20% in 2 days, ironically enough 2 days before the CME raised Margins... HOw was there NO investigation to insider trading?!? These "markets" need to cleanse themselves, or this theft of the Middle Class is going to run "the Middle Class" dry within 4 years. I'm not playing this game anymore, and haven't been. I hope that everyone in DC and in these companies that bought off the system lose everything. Fuck them all.

Enough people are waking up and seeing through this joke of a system that we will have some type of revolution within the next 2 years. I pray that it be a bloodless revolution, like that which happened when the DDR finally admitted it was irrelevant. I pray this happens and we work towards a FREE market system in which everyone competes on fair levels.

Those protesting Wall Street oligarchs and those protesting Big Government spending have much more in common than even they think. They are all middle class who worry their prospects are suffering, although they propose conflicting political solutions and rhetorically attack each other. Each must awaken to this fact: their common oppressor is mercantilism – not capitalism

Yes, it goes beyond politics, no, politics are not irrelevant. The left are bent on more regulation on the ground; not only do we all support the leeches at the top, the left would further tie our hands. Look at all the raw food raids. WTF is that? Remember the violent crackdowns on Iraq war protesters? I don't.
Maybe the 'republicans' are the real masters of the system: it's the left that's brought us to this pass, with promises no one can pay for. In typical fashion, their solution is to tax the productive more, dilute our money further, tie our hands so we all become dependents, then rape our women and children while we watch on our way to the pit. Ok, that last part I made up - they generally just starve you to death. The evil republicans supported a SS and medicare program for the very poor, but that wasn't enough for the left; we all had to become dependents. Read the Black Book of Communism - if you can stomach it - and tell me there's no difference between right and left. Anyone who says there isn't is someone's tool, and probably a leftist.

You can start off in a state of nature and everyone can survive who's able. It takes collectivism to change that dynamic to where almost everyone faces extinction.

Um, I saw first person a sanctioned Iraq War protest (permitted) that was ending and a couple of people got into the street going to do an unplanned march. IMMEDIATELY the riot cops busted out and proceeded to use rubber bullets on the crowd, a friend and law abiding citizen was hit by one that bounced off the ground and had a deep thigh bruise for weeks.

You are either a liar or totally misinformed/uniformed if you think there were no violent crackdowns on Iraq War protests. You obviously didn't pay a damn bit of attention to it.

This isn't left vs right, it's the VERY tippy top, vs. everyone else. They aren't left or right, they just use that paradigm to trick and control people exactly like you.

Both parties have run up debts, both parties have enabled fraud and bailed out the banks, both parties have engaged in illegal wars, torture and extrajudicial assassinations including recently an American citizen under Obama. Both parties ushered in the blatantly fascist TSA and Homeland security.

The writing is on the wall and the joke is on you and by extension all of us. Nobody will be laughing though and there will be tears all around Republican, Democrat and Independent if we don't get it together and find common cause.

But that doesn't mean that Obama should remain in office does it? It's one thing to realize the false dichotomy of red v. blue it's another thing to say that a given sitting politician should not be criticized because he only has one party affiliation, not two. If you're going to vote the bums out you'll have to toss out a blue today and a red tomorrow.